Junior College Life @Ruparel
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Junior college started on 20th July, 2005 and I was super excited to step into this newly found freedom of traveling alone by train, wear whatever I wanted, etc etc. Every newbie must be having similar feelings. I got admission in D.G.Ruparel College in Science stream. It's one of the best colleges in Mumbai and I have made loads of memories here, penning down a few into my diary.
The first plus point is that the college is just next to Matunga Road Station. Just get down from the railway bridge, cross the road and there it is! On Day One, Chetana Murudkar (Classes friend) and me went to college together. After showing the temporary ICards, we got entry through the gate. Just to describe the college infrastructure, imagine you are standing at the gate: there is Science building to the right and Arts building to the left. There are two rectangular gardens in front with Professors Common Room at the extreme end. We went into Science building, there was a big notice board at the center. It displayed roll numbers and names of all the students of 6 divisions and also the timetables and classroom numbers. My roll number was 3116 which means third division (credit to Papa for selecting Marathi as optional subject). First division had foreign language. Second division was Hindi, Fourth was Sanskrit (which I wanted) and IT, Fifth and Sixth were vocational subjects Electronics and Computer Science respectively. I went to the first floor to meet Papa's friend Geete Kaka, laboratory in-charge. There I got my first friend in college, Prachi Salunkhe.
Our classroom was 29 Sci, the stairs to second floor were like those at church. Our class was at the extreme end. Seniors greeted us with roses and chocolates. Another good thing here was No Ragging of any kind. The classroom had long benches (at-least five students can sit on one) divided into four rows. Prachi, me, Nutan Nivate and Mayuri Bhatkar were sitting on same bench then. The introductory lecture was taken by Tikekar Sir and we were done with Day One. In next two days, we queued through the library for library card and college gymkhana for railway concessions. Practicals were to start from August (Mon, Tue, Wed). If those would have started in the very next week then we would had made memories on 26.07.2005. The college, being in the low lying area, had water filled till the knees during heavy rains. But who will dare play in the water to invite an academic punishment.
Pre-practical preparations started with buying the practical journals and manuals from Physics-Chemistry-Biology department, dissection box for Biology, test tube holder and apron for Chemistry and logarithm books for Physics. Since our class was a mix of English, Marathi and Semi English Medium, there was always a confusion on what is called what. For example, a geometry box has protractor, some called it Konmapak. Later we all started description of things like the instrument used to measure angles. Hence we got on same page knowing the marathi and english words for the same thing. But those moments were hilarious. Biology practicals were on first floor in first lab with a partition in between to divide into Botany and Zoology. For me, zoology was the first practical taken by Sunanda Ma'am on the topic Kingdom Animalia. All types of chordata, vertebrates, etc etc animals were to be studied. The lab had long broad tables and round sitting tables. We had to copy those diagrams and descriptions written on pamphlet size cardboard papers covered with plastic. The page numbers were indicated on the paper. Similar practice was followed for Botany. We had to observe the phases of mitosis through the setup microscopes. If we weren't able to complete writing all the pages, those write-ups would then be available on the notice board. Biology floor was full of pot plants and some small bats flying around. We did play with the Touch Me Not Mimosa.
Moving on to Physics lab which was on ground floor; the first practical was how to use the logarithm tables. The session was taken by Shirsaat Sir. Next practical onward we had to collect the apparatus box which was size of a drawer from Mr. Pawar, lab in-charge. We girls were very happy to get separate boxes but later we got to know from boys that one box had to be shared between two students. Amol Wagh was my practical partner. A group of students got same experiment to perform. My group included Shraddha Wavekar, Madhuri Wayal, Shweta Vartak, Prachita Vare, Prathamesh Tanawade, Pratik Thorat, Sameer Thakur, Ashwini Sonawane, Hetal Sonawane, Rohit Sonawane and Madhuri Thakur. There was a connection between the main science building and Chemistry building. Chemistry lab was in the corner adjacent to Science Annex. Here we had all those risky experiments, breaking n number of test tubes and searching for match sticks to light those burners. A year passed by doing all the practical sessions and sometimes interesting sometimes boring lectures, putting proxy signature for best friends and not getting caught. Day celebrations were an highlight to newbie college life. Also we all were pushed into the coaching classes for HSC boards as if it was a mandatory ritual. We did make friends with students of other divisions.
During Class XII, we all showed faces only on practicals. Now the Botany and Zoology practicals were on either side of the building. Botany was fun since we had to make slides and observe through microscope; and Pradhan Ma'am as instructor. She always used to repeat these lines at each practical, 'Cheeku marvadi sarkha ekach themb taku naka ani havrata sarkha badabada otu naka'. Zoology practicals were long sessions due credit to Gohil Ma'am for teaching in detail. Human bones practical was the longest, we all were wondering why do we have 206 bones in our body. Starting from the skull bones when will we be reaching the toes. Physics practicals were very strict, we just couldn't get sign easily for the readings. There were graphs to be plotted for each experiment. Joglekar Ma'am wanted accurate readings. Chemistry practicals were on another corner of the building, the lab was bigger. We had Thipsay Ma'am and Hema Chawdhary Ma'am as instructors. Even though being an year old to chemistry, the number of mistakes doubled here. We were breaking test tubes then, now it was breaking acid bottles and sometimes turning on the fire alarm and putting the lab assistants to work. Not all did these mistakes, but they are a few cases in each batch. Here again we had apparatus box with burettes and pipettes, conical flask, litmus paper, thermometers, etc. This year the experiments did go into our noses. We had to make a queue to get the H2S from the corner of the lab; that rotten egg smell!
We had Mock practicals and revisions of all the experiments. Biology revision was like exhibition of all the bones and fish etc. Jan 2007 started with prelims, my roll number was in 30 Sci. Those ten days of exam were like the last time get-together since after that we all were gonna meet for board practical and exam. Again the last lunches took place in canteen. Though we would be meeting some friends in CET classes but the joy of coming to college and all that fun was never going to come back.
The first plus point is that the college is just next to Matunga Road Station. Just get down from the railway bridge, cross the road and there it is! On Day One, Chetana Murudkar (Classes friend) and me went to college together. After showing the temporary ICards, we got entry through the gate. Just to describe the college infrastructure, imagine you are standing at the gate: there is Science building to the right and Arts building to the left. There are two rectangular gardens in front with Professors Common Room at the extreme end. We went into Science building, there was a big notice board at the center. It displayed roll numbers and names of all the students of 6 divisions and also the timetables and classroom numbers. My roll number was 3116 which means third division (credit to Papa for selecting Marathi as optional subject). First division had foreign language. Second division was Hindi, Fourth was Sanskrit (which I wanted) and IT, Fifth and Sixth were vocational subjects Electronics and Computer Science respectively. I went to the first floor to meet Papa's friend Geete Kaka, laboratory in-charge. There I got my first friend in college, Prachi Salunkhe.
Our classroom was 29 Sci, the stairs to second floor were like those at church. Our class was at the extreme end. Seniors greeted us with roses and chocolates. Another good thing here was No Ragging of any kind. The classroom had long benches (at-least five students can sit on one) divided into four rows. Prachi, me, Nutan Nivate and Mayuri Bhatkar were sitting on same bench then. The introductory lecture was taken by Tikekar Sir and we were done with Day One. In next two days, we queued through the library for library card and college gymkhana for railway concessions. Practicals were to start from August (Mon, Tue, Wed). If those would have started in the very next week then we would had made memories on 26.07.2005. The college, being in the low lying area, had water filled till the knees during heavy rains. But who will dare play in the water to invite an academic punishment.
Pre-practical preparations started with buying the practical journals and manuals from Physics-Chemistry-Biology department, dissection box for Biology, test tube holder and apron for Chemistry and logarithm books for Physics. Since our class was a mix of English, Marathi and Semi English Medium, there was always a confusion on what is called what. For example, a geometry box has protractor, some called it Konmapak. Later we all started description of things like the instrument used to measure angles. Hence we got on same page knowing the marathi and english words for the same thing. But those moments were hilarious. Biology practicals were on first floor in first lab with a partition in between to divide into Botany and Zoology. For me, zoology was the first practical taken by Sunanda Ma'am on the topic Kingdom Animalia. All types of chordata, vertebrates, etc etc animals were to be studied. The lab had long broad tables and round sitting tables. We had to copy those diagrams and descriptions written on pamphlet size cardboard papers covered with plastic. The page numbers were indicated on the paper. Similar practice was followed for Botany. We had to observe the phases of mitosis through the setup microscopes. If we weren't able to complete writing all the pages, those write-ups would then be available on the notice board. Biology floor was full of pot plants and some small bats flying around. We did play with the Touch Me Not Mimosa.
Moving on to Physics lab which was on ground floor; the first practical was how to use the logarithm tables. The session was taken by Shirsaat Sir. Next practical onward we had to collect the apparatus box which was size of a drawer from Mr. Pawar, lab in-charge. We girls were very happy to get separate boxes but later we got to know from boys that one box had to be shared between two students. Amol Wagh was my practical partner. A group of students got same experiment to perform. My group included Shraddha Wavekar, Madhuri Wayal, Shweta Vartak, Prachita Vare, Prathamesh Tanawade, Pratik Thorat, Sameer Thakur, Ashwini Sonawane, Hetal Sonawane, Rohit Sonawane and Madhuri Thakur. There was a connection between the main science building and Chemistry building. Chemistry lab was in the corner adjacent to Science Annex. Here we had all those risky experiments, breaking n number of test tubes and searching for match sticks to light those burners. A year passed by doing all the practical sessions and sometimes interesting sometimes boring lectures, putting proxy signature for best friends and not getting caught. Day celebrations were an highlight to newbie college life. Also we all were pushed into the coaching classes for HSC boards as if it was a mandatory ritual. We did make friends with students of other divisions.
During Class XII, we all showed faces only on practicals. Now the Botany and Zoology practicals were on either side of the building. Botany was fun since we had to make slides and observe through microscope; and Pradhan Ma'am as instructor. She always used to repeat these lines at each practical, 'Cheeku marvadi sarkha ekach themb taku naka ani havrata sarkha badabada otu naka'. Zoology practicals were long sessions due credit to Gohil Ma'am for teaching in detail. Human bones practical was the longest, we all were wondering why do we have 206 bones in our body. Starting from the skull bones when will we be reaching the toes. Physics practicals were very strict, we just couldn't get sign easily for the readings. There were graphs to be plotted for each experiment. Joglekar Ma'am wanted accurate readings. Chemistry practicals were on another corner of the building, the lab was bigger. We had Thipsay Ma'am and Hema Chawdhary Ma'am as instructors. Even though being an year old to chemistry, the number of mistakes doubled here. We were breaking test tubes then, now it was breaking acid bottles and sometimes turning on the fire alarm and putting the lab assistants to work. Not all did these mistakes, but they are a few cases in each batch. Here again we had apparatus box with burettes and pipettes, conical flask, litmus paper, thermometers, etc. This year the experiments did go into our noses. We had to make a queue to get the H2S from the corner of the lab; that rotten egg smell!
We had Mock practicals and revisions of all the experiments. Biology revision was like exhibition of all the bones and fish etc. Jan 2007 started with prelims, my roll number was in 30 Sci. Those ten days of exam were like the last time get-together since after that we all were gonna meet for board practical and exam. Again the last lunches took place in canteen. Though we would be meeting some friends in CET classes but the joy of coming to college and all that fun was never going to come back.
I want to go back in time...
Go back to college and sit on the very same bench in 29SCI
Go back to college and eat noodles in the canteen
Go back to college and complete some notes in the reading room
Go back to college and walk around the whole campus
Go back to college and touch that Mimosa leaves
Go back to college and lay down on the green grass ground
Go back to college and live my college life again...
Go back to college and live my college life again...
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